45 / 68
West of England Tumblers – Page 45 – Purebred PIGEON
Breed of the Issue - West of England Tumblers
“had” them but no longer do so. After asking around for one I
took a very nice pair of blacks from Jim Vines and put each of
them on a Peach Lace mate. I should have bred more out of them
but my loft was filling up with Wests fast as they breed faster
than anything I had in my loft for many years. Having several
black/peach crosses I can tell the youngsters out of them by a
faint orange lacing. Next winter they will be put back on peach
to see if I can draw out a Grey Lace. Now, one note – I have
raised Oriental Frills in black lace blondinettes for many years.
When I see a Grey Lace it looks identical to a black lace blond-
inette frostie to give you an idea what they would look like. I
don’t have one this year to show but hopefully next year I can
write again with Grey Lace out of my loft for an example.
There are a few Grey Lace around but I don’t know if
any are for sale and I prefer to make my own so I know what
variations can happen and what exactly it takes to breed them.
Hopefully someone will have one in the Feaure
(Editor’s note:
See Bob Christman’s article on page 30)
Lastly I got a couple of pair of Andalusian with black mates
going. I like lace on my breeds. After raising a few I put an An-
dalusian on a peach to see what would happen. First two rounds
were blacks and the last round was a single indigo bar. I was
thinking other scenarios but thats what popped out. Done with
that experiment.
It’s been fun working with the Wests again and I got re-con-
nected with an old friend, Terry Brechbill who was with me when
we started the American Archangel Club in 1993.
It’s a great lifetime hobby. Support the shows and the
Pure-
bred Pigeon Magazine,
the
NPA Quarterly
, along with the other
magazines as best you can because we need each other. •
FormativeYears for theWest ofEngland
By Joe Cussick - 1st District Director NWOETC
H
ello everyone. Thank
you to all who supported
this special issue of the
Purebred Pigeon Magazine
, and the
awesome West of England Tumbler.
I am the 1st District Director of
the National West of England
Tumbler Club. Look us up online
for membership, bands, pictures,
etc. Also find a great group of West
breeders on the West of England
Facebook group. A great active
group to get info on show schedules
and results, breeding, genetics and
general chat about our Wests.
I live in the Hudson Valley
area in New York State. I got my first
pigeons in the late 1970s while in my early teens. Had a bunch
of breeds like many do when they get the pigeon bug. But soon
it would change. In the early 80s I met a man who became a long
time friend and mentor in the pigeon hobby, Bill Jacox. He intro-
duced me to the great West of England. Bill helped me get started
with some nice birds and I
flew the heck out of them.
Baldheads, mottles, splash-
es – it all went up, and I even
had some tumbling as they
use to do before they became
a highly competitive breed in
the shows.
For us West breeders/
flyers in the New York City,
Long Island and for me, up-
state New York (mid-state),
we would have nice big West
entries at the shows. Primarily
Baldheads. Lots of red bar and
cream bar balds, blues and
silvers, browns and khaki – although
we did have the other classes, too. Going to the pigeon shows with
Bill Jacox, I got to meet some of the West breeder greats from the
Long Island West Club: Gene Shlick, Marty Nicholson and others.
Those were great times. It was amazing to see so many bald-
heads breed so true back then with very, very few poorly marked
Lighter color in Peach Lace hen
Joe Cussick judging Wests in the 1990s